The Board of Trustees of the Northern Onondaga Public Library, with branches in Brewerton, Cicero and North Syracuse, is proud to announce a new policy that will eliminate overdue fines on materials for children and teens. Library staff members know from experience that fines can be a burden for families, but more importantly, fines can get in the way of one of our core values – turning children into readers.

We’re pleased that parents and teachers who borrow books, CD’s and DVD’s for children will also benefit from this policy change. We understand that when there are children involved life can be especially hectic, and this is our way of helping. On the flip side, it should be understood that adult materials, and computer games are not covered, and overdue fines will apply even if the item is borrowed by a child or teen.

The board approved the new policy unanimously, but asked the tough question: what is the incentive for returning library materials, if there are no fines. The answer? Overdue notices will still go out, and lost or damaged item charges will still apply as with all library materials. When a child or teen with long overdue items tries to check something out, a block will pop up and the staff member will have a conversation with the cardholder about getting things back for other borrowers to use.

How can you take advantage of this? The easiest way is to get yourself into a NOPL library. Not only do we have great collections but our events are top-notch as well. If you don’t have a library card, this is a perfect time to apply. If your card was issued at another Onondaga County library, you should know that the new policy extends to anyone who visits a NOPL library to borrow items for children and teens, meaning anyone with a library card can benefit. (However, NOPL does not honor OnPass cards issued to out of county residents).

The policy will take effect on March 2nd and will apply to any books, CD’s, audiobooks or DVD’s for children and teens checked out on that date or after. If you have questions about the policy, or about which library items are affected, please ask a friendly NOPL staff member!

As NOPL celebrates 20 years as a Special District Library, the staff and Board of Trustees are taking this opportunity to thank our taxpayers for 20 years of generous support.

Volunteers are planning to scan Northern Onondaga Public Library’s collection of yearbooks for schools in the North Syracuse School District and make them available digitally online. But your help is needed! There are some years for which the library does not have yearbooks, and we are hoping you can help fill the gaps so that a complete collection can be scanned.

You’ll find a list below of yearbooks that are needed. If you have one that is on the list, please contact Geoff, the Reference Librarian at NOPL at North Syracuse by calling (315)458-6184, and he can provide you with more details. The scanning process does not damage the yearbooks, and items will be returned to their owners after the scanning is complete.